Grace F. Knoche

Theosophical Topics in Depth

Material by and about Grace F. Knoche

Grace F. Knoche, leader of the Theosophical Society from 1971 to 2006, was born February 15, 1909 at the international headquarters of the Theosophical Society, then at Point Loma, California. There she attended the Raja-Yoga School and Academy founded by Katherine Tingley. She joined the Theosophical Society in 1929 shortly before Mrs. Tingley left on her last tour to Europe. Under G. de Purucker as Leader, she worked at the headquarters as a compositor in the Press, in the Secretary General's office, and on the Leader's secretarial staff. She assisted Dr. de Purucker in revising the Encyclopedic Glossary, and was on the committees responsible for reorganizing his Esoteric School materials, later published as The Dialogues of G. de Purucker (1948) and Fountain-Source of Occultism (1974). She continued her studies at Theosophical University, receiving a Ph.D. in 1944 with a thesis on "Theosophy in the Qabbalah." In the 1930s and '40s she also taught violin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Hebrew at Theosophical University, and painting and sculpture to younger students at the Lomaland School. During the Cabinet administration after Purucker's death in 1942, Grace served as private secretary to the Chairman of the Cabinet, continuing as private secretary to the next two leaders, Colonel Arthur Conger and James A. Long. She worked closely with James A. Long on his new magazine, Sunrise, begun in 1951. On Mr. Long's death in 1971, Grace assumed leadership of the TS and became editor of Sunrise. For almost 35 years she encouraged the membership to assume responsibility for directing the course of their lives along universal principles, stressing that the same compassionate life currents that build and shape the evolution of the cosmos also inform the patterns of everyday experience. Always a collaborator at heart, Grace worked to establish a spirit of cooperation among the various theosophical organizations. She died in Altadena, California, on February 18, 2006, at the age of 97.

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